Asian Journal of Research in Infectious Diseases

Background: Lassa virus (LASV) is the cause of lassa fever (LF) belonging to the Arenaviridae family. Clinical diagnosis is often difficult because of symptoms commonality with other infectious diseases. Early and rapid diagnosis is critical for therapy initiation and LF transmission prevention and control.

Aims: This review aims to highlight current diagnostic platforms and prospects of new emerging sensitive platforms.

Methodology: Available published articles on LASV diagnostics with a focus on current methods: virus culture, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT – PCR) and rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) were reviewed based on their performances and limitations. Prospects of new diagnostic platforms: mobile health, microfluidic, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated (Cas), Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) for LASV diagnosis were also reviewed.

Results: Low sensitivity of the ELISA platform during the window period of LASV infection was observed. Moreover, RT – PCR findings indicated limitation of expertise necessity, cost of thermal cycler, and dedicated facility. Molecular-based point-of-care (POC) diagnostic development should be prioritized to increase speed and sensitivity.

Conclusion: The integration of POC device into molecular isothermal method against LASV scourge will be a success story in curving intermittent outbreaks in endemic areas and prompt clinical management.

Aims: Provision of constant and safe blood has been a public health challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa with a high prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs). This study aimed at determining the seroprevalence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) among prospective blood donors at two Hospitals (government and private-owned) in Rivers State, and also to relate some demographic studies to the screening results.

Study Design:  Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Two Hospitals (a government-owned and private-owned) in Rivers State, Nigeria, between January 2018 and April 2019.

Methodology: Two hundred and eighty-two (185 males and 97 females) blood donors were recruited for this study. Sera samples were screened for antibodies to HIV-1 and -2 using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based kits following the manufacturer’s description.

Results: Of the 282 screened prospective donors (males and females) in this study, the overall prevalence of HIV from both hospitals was 6.0% with a seronegativity of 94.0%. There was a significant relationship (p <0.05) between the overall seroprevalence of HIV concerning gender (p-0.006) all other demographics had no significant association with HIV. Age group 21-30 had the highest prevalence of HIV (53.80%). Donors with tertiary education had the highest prevalence rate (52.90%) of HIV. About marital status, the unmarried donors had higher HIV prevalence (64.70%) when compared with the married donors (35.30%). However, family donors had the highest prevalence of HIV (52.90%). Finally, concerning occupation, students had a higher HIV prevalence (47.10%).

Conclusion: The seroprevalence of HIV in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria was high. This shows that HIV remains a threat to safe blood transfusion and public health in Nigeria. Strict adherence to selection criteria and algorithm of donor screening is hereby advocated.

Introduction: Fungal infection is a common manifestation in this part of the country and worldwide. It is essential to define the epidemiology of fungal infection in a particular environment.

Aim: This study aims to analyze the diagnosis of fungal infection carried out in patients attending the histopathology department (UDUTH) Sokoto from 2014 to 2018.

Method: This study is a retrospective study of all fungal infection biopsies carried out from 2014 – 2019 in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, northwestern Nigeria, a referral centre for the neighbouring northern states Kebbi and Zamfara. Ethical clearance was obtained from the ethical committee of UDUTH, data was collected from histological report cards and analyze manually. Some tissue blocks of the case were retrieved to confirm the diagnosis. A total of 66 requests for fungal diagnosis were received from January 2014 to December 2018, which represent about 0.7% of the total biopsies received over the study period.

Result: Out of the 66 of request for fungal diagnosis 32(48.5%) were fungal positive. Subcutaneous mycosis was the most frequent fungal infection with a frequency of 18(56.25%). Males were more frequently affected than females with the frequencies of 18(56.25%) and 14 (43.75%) respectively.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic illness and so far, there are almost 8860331 confirmed infected cases worldwide concentrating mainly in Americas and Europe, whereas data are less prominent in African countries. In Libya, the preliminary reports revealed there are small numbers of COVID-19 confirmed cases, which subsequently showed only a steady rise with no yet a clear explanation. In way we might find a reason behind Libya having a relatively small number of COVID-19 cases, the literature therefore was searched for all relevant journal articles and published reports that dealt with COVID-19 outbreaks. According to the latest released data, the incidence rate of COVID-19 in Libya remained relatively low as compared to the other countries, where only 571 out of almost nine millions total confirmed cases across the globe were documented in Libya. Further, there is a strong claim that Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, a part of national immunization program of many countries including Libya, might offer at least a partial protection against COVID-19. Cross-protective immunity triggered by other related viral infections is an additional immunological theory might explain the current low trend of COVID-19 epidemic in Libya.

COVID-19 creates panic not only in China but also in developing countries like Bangladesh because it is a pandemic. More than 8.06 million cases and 440290 deaths were caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 216 countries. There are no approved vaccines or antiviral drugs for the disease, and therefore the most effective measures are non-therapeutic interventions to control the spread of the virus. Beyond the dissemination of the disease itself, the COVID-19 pandemic has major consequences, including economical, cultural, and social impacts. The effect of coronavirus would prevent about 24 million people in eastern Asia and the Pacific alone from  avoiding  hunger. Bangladesh has sufficient limitations to limit the spread of the virus and there is a lack of information among rural communities about the crisis. Therefore the consequences  of Corona issue will slow down the development, jobless in many sectors, and major economic crisis.